Cardiac screening

How: At epsavealife.org website, download packet and bring it to screening with a business-size envelope for results to be mailed to you. Teens should dress in a T-shirt, sweatpants or shorts. Girls should wear a sports bra.

In a perfect world, no one else would join Hector and Rhina Paredes’ club.

They started the Eric Paredes Save-a-Life Foundation and enlisted volunteers to help that wish come true.

The Paredes family was like any other until July 23, 2009, when their calm lives took a turn for the worst that no one saw coming.

That day, while packing for a family vacation, Eric Paredes, who was a sophomore at Steele Canyon High, collapsed and died from sudden cardiac arrest, a silent killer with no warning symptoms.

The 15-year-old was a healthy teenager who played football and wrestled.

Almost four years later, Eric’s parents continue a fight they embraced shortly after he died to make it so no other family endures the pain and grief they have.

On Sunday, the Paredes’ fight goes to Orange Glen High for another free heart screening, the 14th since the foundation got started, looking for undetected heart abnormalities in other teenagers.

Not only are athletes like their son welcomed at the screening, all students are urged to undergo the 30-minute procedure that begins with a questionnaire about family history and includes an electrocardiogram.

No needles and no X-ray exposure are involved. Only a slight wait in line.

And it’s all free.

At first, the foundation borrowed EKG machines for its screenings before donations allowed it to purchase about 20 new ones.

At the last screening, in February at Torrey Pines High, a record number of students showed up as 1,030 took advantage of the foundation’s efforts.

“Even at the first screening, it wasn’t how many would show up that was important but how many at-risk kids we’d find,” Rhina Paredes said. “We found one who needed surgery and he was back playing water polo a few weeks later. He’s healthy now.

“I’d rather be home helping my son do his homework than doing this. I’m trying to survive this part of my life because I don’t want anyone else to go through this.

“I am angered over how many parents don’t take advantage of these screenings. They’re free. The test would have saved Eric’s life. They’ll say my child has no symptoms so how can he be sick. Or they don’t have time. Eric played two sports and had no symptoms either when he died from something these screenings can detect.”

Dr. John Rogers, a heart specialist at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla where Rhina Paredes is a nurse, volunteered to read EKGs at the screenings.

As soon as Rhina asked for his help, Rogers joined the mission.

“Screening is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Rogers said. “It just breaks my heart whenever I hear about a teenager who dies too soon from something that a screening would have prevented. It rocks a family to its core.

“When Rhina and I talked, a light bulb went off in my head. It was the perfect match.”

Rogers pointed to the sudden death of Mission Hills football player Anthony Vaeao, who died during a pickup basketball game in May 2012, as a teen who might have been saved by a screening.

Last week, Ramona sophomore Taylor Dorman collapsed and later died after being struck by a ball during an over-the-line game. The Medical Examiner’s Office said determination of the cause of death is pending.

Ideally, Rogers would like to see heart screenings become an accepted part of a teenager’s health program, like it is in Italy.

So far, 6,847 teens have been screened, 164 abnormalities have been discovered, 69 were found to be at-risk and four have required immediate surgery.

“Even if we’ve only saved one life, this all would have been worth the effort,” Rhina Paredes said. “But 164 kids have been alerted to a potential problem that their parents and their doctors now know about.

“People say I’ve saved some lives. I don’t look at it like that. I just made a difference because what we went through when Eric died was just horrific.

“This foundation is our mission in life. There’s no way I wouldn’t continue. I needed a purpose for my life and I found it.”

Erin Dawson is grateful for the foundation’s work after her son Devin underwent what she thought would be a routine screening at Steele Canyon, never for a moment thinking anything was wrong with him.

A travel team baseball team player and a soccer player who was symptom free, Devin Dawson needed surgery to repair a hole in his heart that, if left alone, would have triggered sudden cardiac arrest one day soon.

“They found out the left side of his heart was twice its size and now after his surgery he has a chance to live a long life,” Erin Dawson said. “Kind of appropriate that he had open heart surgery on Halloween.

“I cringe when I think how close we were to losing Devin. I worried at night that if something could happen to Eric then could it happen to my kids.

“He’s a normal teenager now who volunteers at screenings. He’s got a great scar to joke with people about.”

Dawson’s daughter Melora has had her own screening, passing with flying colors.

Torrey Pines trainer Christina Scherr organized the last screening that drew a record numbers of teens. Despite the overwhelming numbers that showed up, Scherr still thought it could have been bigger.

“We still had only about 25 percent of the students in our district,” Scherr said. “It is ridiculous that insurance companies don’t cover an EKG as part of the yearly physical. Think how many lives would be saved.

“The first kid in line at Torrey was there early because he had to go to church. But he still came. He was fine, but we found 18 abnormalities that day and that means there are probably another 50 in our district walking around with no idea something is wrong.